How to make a model look vulnerable

THINKING:

A girl in a shirt is always a great image. There is something about bare legs below the shirt that are sexy. When I shoot for boudoir clients, I always tell them to bring one of their partner's shirts because I know the partner will love it.

This image takes that one step further. With a short shirt and no underwear it creates a much more vulnerable look. Whether the pose is revealing or not it connotes a level of openness that a straight nude does not.

SEEING:

Maintaining a high key look throughout there are just vague hints of the background in the shot.

A level of blue toning even in the highlights gives us cool, foreboding colour tone which reinforces the vulnerable posing of Raphaella.

The camera height is above Raphaella's eye line - and looking down on the subject easily adds an element of submission.

DOING:

This simple outfit can be shot in so many ways: fashion, glamour, art nude. With something as flexible as this I will often shoot all of those variations to get the most from the outfit.

The more simple the styling often the more opportunities photographically you have. The very simplicity means that it becomes a blank canvas to stamp a style over.

Lighting here is from a softbox to camera right; relatively low to give a "horror" style uplighting effect.

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This is an excerpt from "Art Nude Photography Explained" which shows you how to create nude images and how to read and evaluate art nude photographs